In Defense of Sore Losing (Warriors 109, Rockets 140)

In the seven seasons I’ve been blogging about the Warriors, the team has lost nearly 300 games. For most of those seasons, failure was the expectation, greeted with about as much alarm as the sunrise. Up until this season, all those losses blurred together into one miserable mash-up of matador defense, hero-ball offense, poor execution and a general lack of toughness. But Tuesday night’s loss in Houston was different. Despite the fact that the Warriors gave up a shocking 140 points and a record-matching 23 three pointers, they didn’t play poor defense. With the exception of a few lapses, their offense was the same unselfish and well-executed system that has served them so well this season. But what really set this loss apart was how personally the Warriors took it. The Warriors were sore losers — and that’s a good thing.

The Warriors just played the foil to one of the hottest outside shooting performances in the history of the NBA. They deserve part of the blame for the Rockets’ success — the defense pinched into the middle too frequently, leaving players late to rotate out on shooters, and there was often unnecessary help, leaving defenders out of position when the ball swung from inside to the perimeter. The team needs to adjust to having a reliable rim-defender in the paint, and stay home more often with perimeter players rather than shading to provide help. But while the Warriors may have made things a bit easier, they were unlikely to slow down the Rockets even with a strong defensive performance. The Rockets simply hit too many difficult shots, finishing the game — even after a barrage of ill-advised threes to try to break the record — shooting 57.5% from behind the arc. It didn’t matter that the Warriors stopped penetration for most of the game and repeatedly forced the Rockets into what should have been lower percentage shots. All the percentages went out the window, at least for one night. Had the Rockets simply accepted the gift (they usually shoot 35% from three point land) and let the blowout coast to a close in the final minutes, this likely would have been an ugly but forgettable loss for the Warriors.

But the Rockets got greedy. Little-used Rocket rookie Patrick Beverly checked in with just under 6 minutes left and the Rockets up 120-97. He immediately began launching three pointers in an attempt to break the NBA record. When the Warriors tightened their perimeter defense, he exploited the prevent formation to drive down the lane for an easy dunk. I don’t begrudge Beverly his desire to score — he came into the game with a grand total of 35 NBA points — but the celebration that followed for a garbage bucket was just salt in the Warriors’ wounds. Next time down, with 35 seconds left, Beverly squared up in the corner for what could have been the record-breaking three. Instead, Draymond Green lunged out at him, flying past him but pulling across his neck with his trailing arm.

Green’s foul wasn’t a threat to Beverly’s safety, although it was delivered to send a forceful message. After so many years of watching the Warriors simply roll over and play dead in blowouts or — worse yet — immediately yuk it up with opponents when the buzzer sounded, it was jarring to see a disrespected Warriors player strike back. The cost of Green’s message was a Flagrant II foul, but in a game long decided, the statement was more important than ejection. When losing is no longer the status quo, a loss like this one becomes uncomfortable. The Beverly dunk and celebration could only be taken as disrespectful because this Warriors team now has a collective self-respect for its own abilities.

When the fervor died down from the Green foul, it was Mark Jackson’s turn to send a message. Instead of letting the Rockets stage a shoot-around in the final seconds with the Warriors’ defenders as unwilling extras, Jackson ordered the team to intentionally foul players. By denying the Rockets three point opportunities, Jackson ensured that the NBA three point record would not be broken on the Warriors’ watch. It was a brief strategic move, but sent the same loud message as Green’s foul: the Warriors are not going to be passive spectators while the Rockets chase history.

“Culture change” is a meaningless buzz-word repeatedly thrown around by this team over the past decade. I hate to invoke it here, but it’s fitting. The Warriors took exception to the Rockets’ end-of-game behavior because the Warriors expect to be treated as equals. This year’s Warriors are a team that believes it could be up by 30 against the Rockets just as easily as it could be down by 30. The Warriors were beaten by superior performances on Tuesday, but that’s no license for the Rockets to degrade them. The Warriors found a way to steal a small victory out of a big defeat by denying the Rockets the three point record. It may be a petty and ultimately insignificant maneuver, but it showed a toughness and refusal to accept defeat that I’ve never seen from this team.

Pulling back from the macro-drama, there were a mix of encouraging and discouraging signs in the Warriors’ performance:

Andrew Bogut looked as mobile as we’ve seen him since his return. He had some beautiful cuts on the offense end, resulting in easy baskets, and was his usual game-altering self on defense. It’s still a pleasant shock to see a guard attempting to penetrate against the Warriors, only to abruptly change course or throw up an early shot when Bogut suddenly slides between the player and the basket. While his defense wasn’t enough to stop the Rockets’ outside attack, the Rockets were driven to shooting so many threes in the first place in large part as an adjustment to Bogut’s presence.

Curry and Thompson combined for a miserable shooting night (6-17) against the defensively impressive combo of Lin and Harden. But those numbers are a bit deceptive. Thompson went 3-5 for the night (all in the first half) and Curry was 3-8 in the first half. It was only following a disastrous start to the third quarter, in which Curry forced up shots and went 0-4, that his numbers crossed over into the truly ugly threshold. Had the Warriors continued the superb ball movement and patience of the first half to start the third quarter, they might have kept contact for longer with the Rockets. Instead, the Warriors appeared to panic a bit, looking for quick fixes. Their quarterly shooting percentage dropped from 58% and 57% in the first and second quarters, to 45% in the third quarter. The patient ball movement was abandoned in favor of more one-and-done quick shots. There was nothing wrong with the Warriors’ offense in the first half (Curry had an impressive 8 assists), they just needed to tighten up their defense and improve their defensive rebounding. But instead of making this minor changes and continuing to execute, the Warriors had a lapse in focus while the Rockets kept their shooting going. The resulting 16-2 run was the functional end to the game.

Lost in the drama and Rockets’ hot shooting are the dependably fantastic games from Carl Landry and Jarrett Jack. Landry kept the Warriors afloat offensively for much of the game, scoring repeatedly inside while the Rockets bombed away from the perimeter. He actually managed to finish the game with a positive plus/minus — a bit of a shock given the size of the blowout. Jack mixed his scoring (much needed in the third quarter) with looks for his teammates. He kept the Warriors focused and picking away at the lead long after the team had any chance of closing the gap. David Lee also deserves credit for his offensive performance, but he gave up a few crucial defensive rebounds that resulted in second (and third) chance points for the Rockets.

Last but not least, Kent Bazemore got extended minutes as part of the Warriors’ defensive-stopper line-up in the second half. He defended well but shot poorly. Much like Green, Bazemore needs to be careful picking his spots. While Bazemore has a far more reliable jumper than Green, Bazemore needs to make sure he’s under control when he looks to score. All part of the learning process for an NBA rookie, and the meaningful minutes Jackson found for him in this game should pay dividends later.

The anger and defiance the Warriors showed at the end of Tuesday’s game may not be redeemed on this road trip. Oklahoma City will be searching for its own revenge against the Warriors on Wednesday night. Memphis will be hard to beat on Friday, even with Bogut back in the line-up. Dallas on Saturday may be the Warriors’ first chance to take out their frustration on a weaker opponent. But that opportunity should just be a prelude to Tuesday’s rematch against the Rockets — this time back in Oakland. Just as the Clippers thumped the Warriors following the Warriors’ bench antics in an earlier win, the Warriors should look to repay this loss on their own court. Ultimately, the Warriors’ anger and frustration in losing to the Rockets should be a constructive force — it’ll bring the team closer together and make them hungry for vindication. The Warriors appear to be “happy losers” no more.

Adam Lauridsen

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Now was DGreens hit anything like the ZBO rush hit? no I Don’t like violence, and prefer to see them leave it to talent. However The Warriors (to Adams Point) have been laughing stocks too long and these “Messages” are not just for the Rockets but to the league…..We are not Pussies anymore.

ET I also respect your opinions, but with all due respect I also differ on this one. If you are a little guy and a big guy picks on you you can run away or you can smash him in the mouth, which may make you take a beating, but if you respond others think twice before picking on you again.

How many time in the last few years ( and going back many more) has other teams smashed us in the mouth? and How many time have we responded?

I love Drays attitude if your going to pile it on then you will pay a price.

And too all the doubters where are your comments when we are winning?

Go Warriors

Coltraning

El Topo
🙂
Duck Soup all-time fave!

Okay my fellow warriors Devotee. One good Groucho deserves another. “I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas, I will never know. “

Tiri

Well I don’t call intentional fouling “unsportsmanship”

What about fouling at the end of a close game when you want to stop the clock? Do you again say it’s a disgusting way of playing basketball? Get over it man, Rockets were pouring behind the arc and the D could have done very little to stop them. MJ rightly saw it as the only way to stop.

At the end of the day I’m happy to see commitment from players. Can’ wait for the next game VS. Rockets!

reporting in…

Coltraining,

1) 9-22? Any team would take that percentage and remember it was the scrubs shooting a lot of those. Of course a team is not gonna be that hot every game, but they were open and making them so they kept shooting it. Making all those threes probably impacted their defensive effort as well.

2) watch more Rockets games. Harden can get to the rack at will and draws fouls at a crazy rate. He is an All-Star you know. Lin was driving past Curry effectively all night. So yes they can get inside. and if help comes then open threes will follow. The Warriors need to be faster on the rotations to make it more difficult. But you can take the Fitz view if you like.

3) When a team blows you out by 30 points and it’s best player just has an OK game it means they match up well. The Warriors can definitely blow them out in the next matchup but the Rockets have plenty of weapons too.

NCDub

#30–ET:

Kudos! Good blog…

Mizza

Boy, I think many of you, El Tapo, NCDub, et all, are running way too far with that Draymond foul.

First of all, not all flagrant are the same. Viciously elbowing Barea while he is at the peak of his jump is incredibly dangerous. Anyone who has ever played bball at any level knows that the most terrifying thing on a bball court is when you are in the air, with no control, getting clobbered, and landing on the floor hard. Torn ACL’s, blown out knees, concussions, broken necks, broken ankles, broken arms, blown out elbows….etc. It’s this injury risk that makes a foul dirty. It is this injury risk that leaves a foul outside the bounds of sportsmanship, and that no decent person will want to see.

Draymond’s foul had NO injury risk to it. it wasn’t going to break the dude’s neck. It wasn’t going to dislocate his jaw. Watch that foul again and its totally apparent that Beverly was safe. THAT is a message foul, and I have no problem with it. Furthermore, literally EVERY sport I have ever watched allows for those message fouls. And look at other sports for direction in this debate: In baseball, players are ok with getting plunked from time to time….BUT NOT IN THE HEAD. Why? Injury risk. Football: Players get clocked from time to time, or roughed up in the pile, the line that is almost never crossed is going at players knees. Why? Injury risk.

So look at the injury risk of Draymond’s foul, and recognize that what he did is fine. It sent a message, and it did so without risking severe injury. Good foul. Hope to see it again some time.

NCDub

#30;

With utmost respect…boo!

Steve

Believewhat, it was all Bogut’s fault!!!! 🙂

Enough about that anomaly of a 3-point shooting exhibition last night. “Flukish” would be my one word that best describes that sucker.

Onward, and unfortunately, probably downward, tonight in OKC. I see the Warriors had to fly into Tulsa because OKC was fogged in, then taxied (literally) from the Tulsa airport to OKC. They didn’t get to their hotel until about 4 AM OKC time. So, no chance to win tonight? Probably not, but hopefully a bit closer game. I just hate those 31 point losses.

NCDub

Oops…

Meant #34…kudos ET…respect all opinions though…makes these blogs fun for an old-timer… 🙂

I must be an “old school” fan because I saw nothing wrong with Mark Jackson retaliation for McHale/Houston allowing his team to show up the W’s (jacking up all the 3s when the game was clearly in hand…

Hard foul by Green? Really? A “message” foul, flagrant? No way – just called to keep the game from getting out of hand… Bogut’s foul on Lin which bloodied his nose hurt much more.

I’m liking the W’s new physical play. Wish Rush were here… Rush’s tough like Bogut. Mixed in with our Charmin softies – Klay, Lee, and Curry – that is. Those guys need to hit the weight room even more…

believewhat

Jim Rome on this game “Must be most interesting game that is a blowout”

monsta

Green’s foul was vicious? Come on.

Seriously great the blog has a conscience and isn’t hypocritically jumping to support The Team no matter what, I like that, but get serious.

The only reason that was called a flagrant II was because everyone knew it was a message foul. It wasn’t vicious or even uncalled-for. It was a brushback pitch.

It said: Winning is one thing, but gloating you pay for.

Steve

BTW, here was my take on last night, which I posted near the end of the previous thread:

Steve says:
February 5th, 2013 at 10:46 pm

478..

“Fire MJack. Poor sportsmanship. We don’t need that kind of crap with this young team……..Go say a prayer, Jackson. When the FO gets through with you, you’ll be looking for a new job. Amateur.”

I have no problems with how tonight’s game ended (other than the final score), and I think the Warriors overall performance this season has been a huge reflection of the mindset that’s been incorporated into this group of players by Mark Jackson and his coaching staff.

When the Warriors were embarrassed by the Clippers in LA, a game that included a lot of fancy dunks and celebratory actions in the second half when the game had already been decided with LAC far in front, Jackson stared down the Clippers bench during a timeout. He didn’t like the way the Clippers were “winning” and wanted to make sure his team felt the same way he did. And how did the Warriors respond when the two teams met a few weeks later?

My point is that when Jackson took over this team he felt the players weren’t tough enough, physically or mentally. He wanted that to change, and change it has. GSW didn’t win 30 of it’s first 48 games this season because their talent was superior to their opponents. This group, minus Bogut and BRush from just about the word “go”, has flat out exceeded even the most optimistic of opinions to the point where they’re now considered one of the more dangerous teams in the league to deal with going forward.

The old “soft” Warriors? Ask Jeremy Lin, after his nose was bloodied by a hard Bogut foul. Or ask Patrick Beverley, after DGreen’s foul on his attempt at a record setting 3-pointer. The Warriors, aside from the obvious (wins/losses), are different from past seasons. And that “different” is both a physical and mental toughness that’s been missing, in, like, forever.

As a fan, I stand up and applaud what they’ve accomplished thus far, and that applause is definitely not just for the players.

————————————

No, I’m not equating “physical and mental toughness” with playing dirty or being poor sports, sore losers, etc etc. It’s an attitude, an identity, that in the end demands respect from the opposition.

Remember the 3 rooks in their first local interviews after being drafted? They all mentioned that they were expected to help the Warriors be a tougher team, and they each claimed they were ready to do just that.

Draymond Green, in particular, seems to be embracing that very mindset, from his jaw-to-jaw words with LeBron James in Miami to his verbal jousting with Vince Carter the other night vs the Mavs.

Last night Bogut put his shoulder into Harden in what looked like a deliberate foul, and even the more finesse-oriented David Lee put the hammer down on LeBron going to the hoop in that same game vs the Heat in FLA.

The Warriors aren’t anywhere close to being a reincarnation of the Detroit Bad Boys or the Pat Riley-coached NY Knicks of many years past. But they are “different”, a “tough kinda different”, and that get’s a big thumbs up from me.

Mizza

“It said: Winning is one thing, but gloating you pay for.” – well said.

RickP

I’m okay with fouling them rather than let them break the record. I get that.

I’m not okay with running at a guy and knocking him over backwards by putting your forearm in his neck, which is what it looked like to me.

So, I’m okay with the flagrant 2 call.

The only positive I can find in the game is that Bogut played a couple of minutes in the 4th q. Jackson wouldn’t have done that if Bogut was struggling with the ankle, so it’s a good sign.

On the other hand, Bogut didn’t look so mobile to me. He was taking his time getting up the court

I predict – from Chandler Parsons’ Tweet joking about “Hand down, man down” of Mark Jackson’s W’s – and Bogut’s response – see you Tuesday – that Parsons better not drive into the lane…

reporting in…

I dont have that strong of an opinion on Green’s foul either way. What irritates me is imagining Rush taking all of Green’s minutes and wondering how good we could be. He could replace Klay when he goes into his funks too. ughhh

JanG

Wow, W’s getting tough, throwing their bodies around, and making the statement “We’re not a fluke, we’re tough, and we demand respect”. What’s this world coming to?

No offense to be sure. Just…wonder what you want? Jax is still COY material & Klay is still on the upside Barnes too. Bogut is a find.. JJ & Landry ditto. What do you want…best IMO? Get a grip. Enjoy the show & smile a bhit whenever we don’t quite live up… from an old timer! 🙂 🙂

willow

Good arguments/points both way.

By the way, if I heard the announcers correctly, Houston did set a record last night; most points ever scored in the arena.

If it were me, I’d take giving up that record more personally than most threes ever made in a game (a record that couldn’t be much more meaningless, in my opinion).

Also, besides sending a message (which I think the Warriors have already done by their “regular” play this season – they are no longer a soft team), there is no basketball/winning reason to intentionally foul a three point shooter. All it does is futher run up the score in the wrong direction.

sartre

I loathe violence, whether it appears in sport or elsewhere. But I did not see any deliberate attempt by Green or any other Dub to physically harm an opponent in this game. I have no problem with the flagrant because there was a reckless element to his effort to intentionally foul. I think the use of language like “retaliation” sensationlizes the nature of the Dubs intentional fouling. I had no problem with it – the game went from a competitive basketball contest to pure theater for the fans and even Lin acknowledged that his team overstepped the line into disrespecting their opponents with the bench response to Beverly’s showboat taunting.

Our team is made up of high character guys, not thugs. They’re human and so is the coach. If they take offense to how the opposition is treating them than I respect the fact. The biggest indicator of how offended they were wasn’t anything that happened on the court but by the refusal of most to shake the Rockets’ hands at the end. Who are we to tell them or their coach to take the higher ground?

believewhat

RickP,

Q on +/-. Right now, the starting 5 with Bogut is +10 for the season, does that mean they had +40 or so before yesterday’s game ? Is my understanding correct that one game can tilt like 80% of +/- stat built over many games ?

believewhat

RickP,

BTW, it is not a trick question.

Regarding Bogut, his timing is off but he looked to me as good shape as you can expect someone playing almost after a year.

Fogbound

Sorry, disagree on the defensive effort. The Rockets drive and kick strategy was pretty obvious from the start and the Dubs never seemed to address this. In addition the defensive rebounding of the misses was nonexistent at times especially in the beginning of the third quarter. The best player for the Dubs in the first half, Landry, had the proper approach to slow the hot shooting (pound the ball inside, draw fouls, force the defense to move and react) but this was abandoned in the second half for some reason. All said I don’t think anyone was beating the Rockets last night with there incredibally hot shooting performance.

Against this team the solution has to be to slow the game down and force them to play long defensive sets.

JanG

willow #75:

Thanks. Read your post and finally came to my senses. This is really not about 3’s, flagrant fouls, no handshakes, staredowns, respect, etc. What it is about is a 0.540 team scoring 140 freakin point against us, no matter how they did it. If that’s not embarrassing to the players, their kids, the org, and the fans, then I don’t know what is!

Otis

These guys – the Rockets – are streaky. When they’re on they can crush anyone. The Knicks have been among the best teams in the league and the Rockets crushed them by what? 40 I think.
Not an excuse, but it was just one of those nights.

Again – listened to Steinmetz talk about it and he missed the point. He was saying how end of the bench players are going to play hard, blah, blah, blah. That wasn’t a problem. It was hoisting up three after three after three.
And no one seems to be mentioning that they had some shots at it and missed. Then we started fouling them.
Still this one was much more about how good they were than how crappy we were.

Ross

Wrong! The rockets destroy teams that try to slow it down and struggle against teams that can run with them. They are 14-4 with a average margin of victory over eleven against teams in the bottom third in the nba in pace. Thats why they destroy the knicks and the grizz.

Tired

Green foul was a no class thing to do. If he was told to do that, it is even worse.

Sending messages? Send this.
This kind of behavior is just juvenile.
Like a spoiled child we had to whine and hit.

Ws got beat bad. If the other other team wants to act like six year olds, big deal. if we want to send a message, beat them just as bad at home. Hitting a bunch of threes like that is just luck.

So much macho bravado on this blog at times. So much posturing. Big bad bloggers. Tough guys sitting at the computer screens. Great if you are never on the court. Kids stuff. Grow up.

Sorry Adam, I don’t agree with you at all. The Ws became just a team and a coach that acted like babies and sore losers. OK, stop them from getting the record if that makes you feel more like a man, but don’t reach out and smack someone in the face because you played a lousy game.

Move on. We need to stay focussed, even if the media is going to run this to death. Maybe this will help the young Ws from getting involved in shootouts with inferior teams. We have a tendency to get away from what is our best playing when confronted with teams like this. That is the message from this game. We got sucked in and we lost to a hot shooting team.

Get over it it.

stillo

Those who call the Green foul flagrant?

Stick to tennis? Go play some golf and get you cardio?

The NBA is a man’s league and a man’s game.

Tired

And as far as the rebounding goes, when are we going to realize that rebounds from attempted threes are going to bounce out farther than regular shots. How many times are we going to be all standing under the basket while the other team grabs the boards out at the free throw line?

Just askin’.

stillo

While your talking about “Tough guys sitting at computer screens,” why don’t you taake a little of your own advice?

Go ahead and head down to Oracle next Tuesday, and call just one Warriors player a “baby” or “sore loser?”

I would pay to see how far that gets you….

stillo

If your 14 of 18 shooting 3’s? Theres only about 4 rebounds to get.

Didn’t watch the game unfortunately, had a class, but did they lose all 4?

Steve La Porta

there are no villains, nor any heroes regarding the end of the game scenario last night. in other words, it wasn’t the case where one team was clearly right and the other wrong. either they both acted iike knuckleheads or they both did the right thing. if you want to rip rockets for intentionally setting up for 3s in a 30-point blowout, then, you have to look at the warriors fouling like a team intentionally walking a baseball player in the final at bat who has hit 4 home runs, or a team that attempts to bunt in the 8th inning of a no-hitter. both teams did what they thought was appropriate given the circumstances. hopefully, the result is that we’ll have a more competitive and entertaining game next tuesday.

meanwhile, seems like a lot of folks on the site are giving green an undue hard time, some even questioning his court smarts. if tom izzo, one of the best coaches in college basketball history and mark jackson, one of the most successful and smartest point guards in nba history, say the green is very savvy, high i.q. player, then, he is — period. his mistakes aren’t stupid mistakes, they are mistakes made due to inexperience and enthusiasm. his positive contributions far outweigh his negative ones this season. many people didn’t even give him a shot at making a team — he will get better.

Tired

stillo, you are either a funny guy trying to use irony and humor on a medium that favors neither, or you are just another wannabe tough guy.

Either way, a good laugh for me.

🙂

Cheers

sartre

I agree that the Dubs defense was complicit in the loss. Who could not? MJ stuck with zone defense for too long despite the Rockets abusing it, the Dubs rotations were not crisp, they over-helped, they didn’t match the Rockets’ energy, they didn’t get back fast enough in transition, they struggled to stop dribble penetration leading to kick outs etc. Everything unraveled as they desperately scrambled for stops in the face of red hot shooting and beautiful ball movement. But it would be wrong to ignore the freakish nature of the Rockets’ shooting. The Dubs prior to the game had mostly defended the 3-point line very well (ranked 3rd in 3P% defense) and the Rockets had previously shot something like 35% from 3P range (Lin [31%] or Harden [33%] had been liabilities as 3-point shooters).

I really don’t see anything that imposing about the Rockets. There is a reason why they are not more than 4 games above .500 and they rarely have a close game (within 5 points). As a young and talented team they’re going to be inconsistent and their defense is exploitable.

Mizza

Can the “Green should be ashamed for the horrible classless thing he did” crowd just watch this foul again? It’s at the 1:37 mark.

I have a ton of respect for this blog, and its posters, but I really can’t understand this reaction. It seems totally bizarre.

Also note how Green initially JUMPED at the 3 point shot. It was only after a pump fake that he reached around and got him in the face/throat area. clearly he was not initially going to blast the guy into the 3rd row. And the contact itself just isnt’ that bad, and as i detailed above, there was no injury risk.

If someone wants to explain why this is such a bad foul, and why Green is classless, I’m all ears.

Tired

ok, stillo, now i know what you are doing. You are a pretty tough guy, for someone who is sitting in front of a computer screen.

Yep, a real tough guy.

stillo

Don’t take offense Tired, just think you kinda calling the kettle black when you make reference to other posters being “tough guys,” only then to revert to bashing our team with name-calling.

It’s good to laugh, so stick with that….

Mizza

Also, I appreciates Tired’s tough response to all these wanna be computer screen tough guys.

Jujubi Jones

There’s no fault in the rockets running up the score. It was garbage time and just the subs who barely get to play. That’s what garbage time is. It would be different if it was the starters but it was the scrubs people. Man up.

Tired

Mizzo, it’s classless because there was no way he was going to block the shot or just distract him. He went out of his way to hit him and a hit him in the face.

JanG

Geez, compared to the hard fouls I’ve seen over the years, this was very pedestrian. And I don’t fault Beverly one bit. If I were sitting on the bench all season and had a chance to break a significant record, you can bet I’d be going for it. If you want to blame anyone, go after McHale. If a team did that to his Celtics when he was a player, LBird would not only throw someone into the stands, but he would have dropped drop in 50 in their next meeting.

Mizza was correct. The foul occurred after the fake and Green was reaching, for the ball I would imagine. He simply didn’t want the shot to be launched. Let’s see how Lee and Bogut react when Lin goes in the lane next game. Would have liked to have seen more of Festus yesterday. I believe NBF mentioned that Bogut looks slow. I have to agree though I didn’t see much of him when he was with the Bucks. He got blown by on a few drives. Let’s hope he improves in the next month.

stillo

Tough guys? Why? Because they don’t agree with what another is posting, or is it that they like to follow a team that takes a physical approach to playing the game.

Classless? Namecalling is classless and rather juvenile too. I would expect that with the age that most of you have already achieved; you would know that?

Mizza

It’s not classless to grab a hold of someone going up for a lay up. Even if you get him in the face. That happens all the time. And its not generally classless to commit a hard foul. That happens all the time. Bogut did it to Lin earlier in the game. So i’m just not seeing what is so different here.

Maybe you can clarify some of the observations I saw:

I didn’t think he hit him that hard. Did you?
I didn’t think he fouled him in a way that might injure him. Did you?

I do think he decided he wasnt’ going to let him shoot a three. Initially he tried to stop it by selling out on the shot. After the pump fake got him to fly past the shooter, he reached back and grabbed him. Admittedly, he wasn’t concerned about being nice, but aside from that, it didn’t seem that bad. What am i missing?